


Burning Bright

by RoryDysfunction



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Blood, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Underage Sex, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Fire Powers, Hydra (Marvel), Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Minor Injuries, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Polyamory, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Smut, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Underage - Freeform, Violence, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:53:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23055022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoryDysfunction/pseuds/RoryDysfunction
Summary: Rory has been under HYDRA's "care" for two years when she meets the Winter Soldier. Her entire life is overturned when she finds out she's his soulmate. Despite this, fate is determined to separate them and Rory finds herself in the hands of the Avengers, who she quickly learns are also her soulmates. Easily overwhelmed with unstable powers, this sixteen-year-old is in over her head as she has to adjust to a life free from HYDRA and with the Avengers, all while searching for Bucky. Will her numerous soulmates help her, or will they drive her away with their attempts to help?
Relationships: Avengers Team/Original Female Character(s), Bruce Banner/James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark/Thor, Bruce Banner/James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark/Thor/OC, Bruce Banner/Original Female Character(s), Bruce Banner/Tony Stark, Bruce Banner/Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov/Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton/Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s), Natasha Romanov (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Thor (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark/Thor
Comments: 26
Kudos: 212





	1. Prologue

Rory swears if the guard behind her digs the barrel of his machine gun into her shoulders again, she’ll turn around and melt his face off. She won’t, really. The last time she’d tried, they’d hit her so hard she swore she’d gone blind for three days. As much as she hated to admit it, they had taught her the lesson not to try tofight them. Sure, she had powers, but they had studied them enough to know how to beat her. Even when she could find the rare cracks, they beat her literally, using raw strength against her. Knock her out as fast as possible, and that was the end of her rebellion. 

She’s lead into a spacious room full of guards with guns all centered on a man in the middle of the room. He’s seated in a chair, an IV hooked to one arm, his other glinting in the light. It seemed from the shoulder down, his left arm was made of metal. Recognition quickly runs through Rory’s head. SHe had never met him, but she’d heard plenty of talk between the guards. Talk about HYDRA’s ultimate weapon. The soldier. He’s struggling against the men trying to hold him down. From the looks of it, he was quickly gaining the upper hand. Pierce turns his steely gaze to her as she’s ushered further into the room. 

“Good. Calm him down.” 

She’s given a none-too-gentle shove forward, nearly losing her footing. She sends a glare towards the guard that had shoved her, Rollins was his name, before turning back to the struggling soldier. The brain wasn’t her specialty, and Pierce knew that. However, if she focused hard enough, occasionally she could work her way in. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to focus with the metal armed maniac struggling like he was. One hit from that thing and it would be game over. But she knew she had to try. Better to try and fail than be forced to do it. 

She approaches him slowly, reaching for the soldier’s flesh hand. She keeps her eyes on his face, watching him. One swing with that metal arm and he could paint the walls with her brain matter. But for the moment, he seemed more focused on watching her approach. 

She nearly jumps back when she makes contact with his hand. It feels almost like she’s being electrocuted, but there’s no pain. The soldier has stopped struggling altogether, empty eyes boring into her face. She can’t look away, chills running through her body as she touches him, part of her seeming to get jump started. A part of her she didn’t know she was missing. 

She does go to pull away now, realization dawning on her, but he’s too fast. His hand is around her forearm, yanking her closer to him. She nearly falls against him, but she catches herself on his bare shoulder, more electricity flowing through her as she makes more contact with him. There’s something flashing through his eyes, an almost pained look on his face as he stares at her. She’s close enough she can feel his breath on her face, her heart thudding in her chest as adrenaline flows through her. 

“It’s you.” She whispers, her eyes wide as she stares at the soldier. 

All too soon she’s yanked back, torn from his grip, her back meeting a solid wall of muscle. She can tell by his aftershave who it is, his grip on her tight enough to hurt. Pierce is speaking, but she can’t make out what he’s saying, her ears ringing. The soldier’s eyes are still on her, wide and unsure. Some part of him deep down had to know what was happening. A rough hand grips her right arm, holding it up to the light. Her eyes are drawn away from the soldier finally, glancing down at her arm. On her forearm, right below the inside of her elbow, is the beginning of a mark. Three vines spiraling outward around a rose. 

“Sir.” Rumlow says, holding her arm out so Pierce can see. 

Pierce studies her arm for a few moments before turning to the soldier. “Let me see his arm.” 

One of the men standing behind him forces the soldier’s right arm out. Rory can’t see what it is from her spot, but she can see a definite mark on his arm. Pierce studies the soldier’s arm for a moment before turning back to face her. 

“Take her back to her room.” He turns back to the doctors, Rumlow starting to drag her out of the room. “Wipe him.” 

Rory snaps at his words, fighting against Rumlow. “No!” Her voice echoes through the room, Rumlow having to wrap his other arm around her to hold her. He lifts her up, half carrying her out of the room, everyone ignoring her protests. She had just met her soulmate, and now he would be forced to forget her. 

Rumlow drags her down the hall to her own room, tossing her inside rather unceremoniously. She grunts as she hits the floor, her knees knocking painfully against the concrete, but she doesn’t care. She’s on her feet quickly, but not quick enough. The door slams closed, but she doesn’t care, hatred running through her veins. No one ever met their soulmate so young, and now she was going to lose him again. She can feel her body starting to warm, her emotions taking over as her hands beat against the steel door. Her fingers start to glow, red tendrils of heat flowing through her as she tries to melt a hole in the door. 

Her angry yell turns into a shriek as her body is forced away from the door, pain burning through her body hotter than the fire inside of her. She drops to the floor, her muscles spasming painfully from the shock. She had burned through the first door shortly after she’d arrived there, and they had quickly rigged the door to electrocute her if it got too hot. Usually the pain subdued her, but she was beyond angry, pure rage burning through the pain, almost literally. 

She let out another angry scream, her skin feeling as if it was blistering, flames erupting from her hands. It doesn’t last long this time, the failsafe being activated as the holes in the walls open up, dowsing her with flame retardant. Her scream is cut off, the retardant choking her, sticking to her skin and making her itch. Shortly after the sprinklers turn on, dowsing her with ice cold water, washing the flame retardant away. Her screams have died away to angry sobs, tears mixing with the blood dripping from her nose, quickly mixing in with the water soaking her from the ceiling. She drops to her knees in exhaustion, her head drooping from the exertion her outburst had taken. 

The water shuts off, flowing down the drain under her bed. The door opens, but she doesn’t bother looking up. She knows who it is by the sound of his expensive dress shoes on the wet concrete. 

“Are you finished with your tantrum?” 

She doesn’t move aside from her shivering from the shock of the temperature change. Pierce squats down in front of her, reaching forward and gripping her chin, forcing her to look up at him. She fixes him with her nastiest glare, but she knows she probably doesn’t look very threatening soaking wet with flame retardant clumped in her hair. 

“Don’t think that this...development changes anything. He’ll go on serving HYDRA as he always has, and you will continue learning your place here.” He studies her face for a moment before letting her go. He stands, speaking to the other body in the room. “Get her cleaned up.” 

The expensive dress shoes leave her line of sight, quickly replaced by a pair of heavy boots. Her stomach contracts unconsciously, having felt the driving kick of those boots more than once. 

“Come on. You look like a wet rat.” Hands are on her arms, hauling her up to her feet. She’s more than a head shorter than him, her eyes avoiding his face. 

He grips the back of her neck, all but dragging her towards the showers. How she would have loved to burn him to a crisp, but she knew better. The one time HYDRA kept their base to OSHA standards. There were fire extinguishers every ten feet down the hallways, and at least one in every room. They didn’t take any chances, and she had learned the hard way she would always pay for acting out. 

Rory is shoved into the shower room, the door being shut and locked behind them. She keeps her back to the door and Rumlow, marching over to one of the stalls. She ignores the eyes on her back as she pulls her clothes off, turning on the water. It’s cold, but it’s always that way. She keeps her back turned to Rumlow at all times, even if it meant getting soap in her eyes. She would prefer that than let him see all of her. He had never touched her, never tried anything, but she could always feel the leering, looming gaze on her when they were in a room together. 

She keeps her shower quick, pulling the towel off the hook. She wraps it around herself, not bothering to dry off. She would do that in the privacy of her own room. Not that she had much privacy with the cameras. But at least she would be alone. 

She keeps her head down as she makes her way back towards the door. Rumlow doesn’t move to open it, however, making Rory’s heart start to race, her stomach twisting painfully. She was vulnerable now, vulnerable and alone. His hand grips her chin, lifting her face so she’s looking up at him. His thumb traces over her lips, pulling on her bottom lip for a moment. 

“Maybe if you were a few years older.” He smirks, a chuckle sounding deep in his chest. He lets her go, gripping the back of her neck again, opening the door. “You’re going to be a killer when you grow up, sweetheart.” 

Rory doesn’t see the soldier again for almost two years. 


	2. Chapter 1

Something was happening. Rory can hear the guards running up and down the hall. There had been something in the works, something HYDRA was planning. She had been able to sense it for the past few weeks. She didn’t know any details, but she knew it was something big. She was low on their pecking order, oftentimes she didn’t know anything was happening until after it happened. If it didn’t directly affect her, she didn’t get told any details. 

The sound of gunshots has her sitting up on her bed. She had been tracing the mark on her arm. It had gotten bigger in the two years since it had first appeared, the first time she’d met her soulmate. The vines now wrapped around her arm, snaking up towards her bicep and down towards her wrist. She took it as a good sign, that maybe HYDRA’s efforts to wipe the soldier’s memories hadn’t completely worked. Maybe you couldn’t erase soulmates, no matter how hard you tried. Rory didn’t want to think about it though. The pain he would have gone through. 

Rory’s door opens, a guard appearing. She’d never seen him before, his bulk taking up the entire doorway. She pushes herself back against the wall, spotting the gun in his hand. The gunshots were getting louder, making Rory’s heart race. Had they been found? Was someone attacking and they were losing so they were taking the ultimatum? Die with HYDRA’s secrets instead of spilling them to their enemies? It must have been the case as the guard raises the gun towards her. She feels her natural survival instincts kicking in, her hands starting to burn, her body warming. 

She jumps when the gun goes off, but she quickly realizes she wasn’t the one who was shot. A gaping hole appears in the guard’s forehead, his eyes going empty as he falls forward. Blood had splattered all over the room, some of it getting on her. Her gaze quickly snaps back to the doorway, her heart still pounding. 

It quickly starts pounding for a different reason. Standing in the doorway, gun still raised, is the soldier. A quiet whimper leaves her lips as she sees him. She had thought she’d never get to see him again. She had thought it was over for them, just as quickly as it began. But he was there, slightly hunched in her doorway, having just killed the man sent to kill her. He looks rough like he had just been in a fight. He was favoring his right arm, a slight limp to his walk as he approaches her. She stays still, unsure of what to do. Unsure of what’s going to happen. 

The soldier reaches for her, gripping her right arm with his metal hand. The metal is cold against her heated skin, but his grip is light. He stares down at the mark on his arm for a few moments before gently pulling her to her feet. 

“We need to leave.” She had never heard him speak before. His voice is rough like he hadn’t used it in a while. He hadn’t said a word to her when they first met, and she figured he didn’t do much talking with HYDRA. He was an assassin, not a spokesperson. 

“What’s happening?” 

He doesn’t answer, pulling her from her room. He puts a gun in her hands, not that it would have done much good. She had only used one once, and she’d been so nervous she’d melted it before even firing her first shot. HYDRA had given up trying to teach her to use weapons, instead focusing on her natural weapons. She follows him, staying behind him as they make their way past body after body on their way out of the compound. It should have shocked her, made her sick. But she knew what they were capable of. Blindly following orders for what they thought was going to be a better future. The kinds of things they had done to her, done to him. They deserved it. Every last one of them. 

The soldier leads her outside, the sun momentarily blinding her. It was evening, the sun close to setting. The air was chilly, but Rory wasn’t going to complain. It had been a long time since she’d breathed in fresh air. She wants to stop and take it in, but she knows she has to keep moving. They have to keep moving. If someone came back and noticed them out, it would surely be a quick death for both of them. They were finally escaping and she wasn’t about to put that in jeopardy. 

The soldier hands her a set of keys, leading her over to a car. It’s small and discreet and no doubt stolen. She pauses, looking at the keys, the soldier pausing as well. 

“I don’t know how to drive.” 

He opens the passenger door, staring at her. “You’ll have to figure it out.” 

Rory pushes aside the desire to throw a tantrum. Most 16-year-olds were getting cars and their licenses and already knew how to drive. She, on the other hand, knew how to light people on fire and occasionally teleport herself. She had learned that trick not long after she met the soldier the first time. But she was scared to try it too much out of fear of sending herself between a wall or somewhere out in the middle of the ocean. It would have been easier to teleport them somewhere than get in the car and drive it, but with her luck, she would send them right back into HYDRA’s hands. 

Rory climbs into the driver’s seat, sticking the key in the ignition. She had only driven once, back a year ago when she had been left under the care of Rollins for a few days. He had let her drive one of the tactical vehicles around the parking lot. If she could drive one of those tanks, then driving a car should be easy. 

Well, sort of. 

It took a few tries before Rory started to get the hang of it, the soldier bracing himself with his metal arm on the dashboard. Thankfully, as far out of the city as they were, there wasn’t much traffic she had to combat. Neither of them had licenses, and she was sure her driving looked erratic. As long as she didn’t crash into anything or anyone, they would be okay. 

“Where are we going?” She asks after they’ve been driving for a while. She had been going in no particular direction, having only the occasional direction from the soldier. 

“Away from the city.” 

She nods. “Okay. Won’t they be on our tail?” 

He shakes his head. “Not right away.” 

“What do you mean?” 

He says silent again, making her want to scream. She wanted to know what was happening, and she wanted to know why it had been so easy for them to get away. Maybe it was a test. Maybe they were tracking them, seeing if she was willing to leave that easily. Of course she was. The last six years of her life had been a living hell. She wanted to find her parents and let them know she was okay, that she was still alive and mostly unharmed. She wanted to go back to her normal life and live it again. But deep down she knows that won’t be a possibility. Too much had changed. She had met one of her soulmates, not to mention being kidnapped by an organization hellbent on taking over the world. 

They drive well into the night, keeping to back roads. Quickly they left the city behind, trading it for small towns and then densely wooded areas. Rory can feel herself getting tired as they pushed towards midnight, her eyes threatening to drift closed. 

“Pull over here.” 

Rory almost slams on the breaks, gently pulling the car to the side of the road. They were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded on all sides by trees. The soldier opens the car door, climbing out. 

“Stay here. If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, keep driving.” 

Rory can’t even acknowledge she heard him before he’s closing the car door and trekking into the woods. She leans back in her seat, tapping the steering wheel. They were low on gas, and there was not a building or car in sight. Dark woods surrounded her. Maybe this was part of the test. Maybe he was going into the woods to tell them she left and they’d be here in ten minutes to kill her for running or worse, take her back. Or maybe he wasn’t testing her, and they really were running from HYDRA. Regardless, something had happened, and he wasn’t telling her everything. Not that he was telling her much at all. 

Twelve minutes go by before the back door of the car opens. Rory had nearly fallen asleep and almost had a heart attack when it opened. She looked around, seeing no one but the shadowy figure of the soldier sliding a big black box into the back seat of the car. He climbs back into the passenger seat, not bothering with a seatbelt as he instructs her to drive further. She thinks about mentioning their gas situation, but then again, he had probably figured that out already. 

It’s another hour before the gas gauge is in the red and the soldier finally tells her to pull off on a dirt road. He tells her to turn the headlights off, but he must have been able to see better in the dark than she could because she almost ran them off the dirt road more than once. The road ends abruptly, showing no sign of going anywhere else. Rory glances at the soldier, but he’s already climbing out of the car. She shuts it off, climbing out as well. The soldier doesn’t speak to her as he unloads the black box, grabbing a few things out of the trunk before shoving the car off the road and into the trees. He made it look so seamless, and part of her is concerned. If he shoved her like that, her skeleton would probably burst right out of her skin and hit a tree behind her. 

The soldier tosses a sweatshirt at her. It smells weird, but she doesn’t complain. It was colder out in the woods than it had been in the city. He picks up the box again, before starting out into the trees. He doesn’t say anything to her, but she assumes he wants her to follow. His pace is quick and silent and she nearly has to jog to keep up with him. She tries to stay silent, but she’s not as good at it as him. 

She’s not sure how long they walk, but it had to be getting very late, or early depending on the point of view. She’s nearly dead on her feet when he motions her to stop. Up ahead there’s a cabin in the trees, the lights off and no car they can see. He sets the box down behind a tree, positioning her next to it. 

“Don’t move. If you hear anything, run.” 

She’s not sure she could run even if something happened, but she nods. He leaves her there, silently creeping up to the cabin. She wants to sit on the box, but she’s not sure what’s inside it and she doesn’t think it’s worth the risk. The soldier disappears into the cabin, the woods silent around them. It’s a few tense minutes of silence before he appears again, leaving the cabin. He comes back over to her, grabbing the box. 

“Come.” 

She gets nothing else out of him, having no choice but to follow him into the cabin. It’s empty, so far as she can see, but it’s stocked full of items. Must be something like a hunting cabin, only used during hunting season. The soldier closes the door, locking us in. Rory jumps a little at the sound, her body reacting on memory alone of all the times she’d heard that sound while her back was turned. Rory watches the soldier move around, setting the box near the bed in the corner. She can feel the adrenaline starting to wear off again, threatening to close her eyes for her. She catches herself before she falls, stumbling a bit. The soldier has his eyes on her from where he’s closing the blinds. 

“Get some rest.” 

All she can do is nod, not even bothering to take off her boots before she curls up on the bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.


	3. Chapter 2

Rory wakes when the sun hits her eyes. It's quiet in the cabin, nothing but the sound of birds chirping outside breaking the silence. She's not sure how long she slept, but she feels rested. More than she has in a long time, despite the fact she was alone with HYDRA's top assassin who could have easily killed her in her sleep. But he hadn't.

Rory sits up, rubbing her eyes. A quick scan of the cabin in daylight gives her a better idea of the layout. It's a simple, one-room cabin with a kitchen in the corner and only a single door no doubt leading to the bathroom. The soldier has perched himself by the door, gun in hand. He's watching her, steely eyes focused on her as she sits up, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed. The soldier shows no sign of moving, Rory chewing on her lip nervously.

"Are you going to talk to me now? At least tell me what's going on?"

There are a few beats of silence before the soldier finally moves. He sits up straighter, seeming to relax a little. "HYDRA has fallen."

Rory crosses her legs, his words taking a moment to process. "W-What do you mean?"

He explains everything to her, at least what he knows. He explains what HYDRA was planning, or at least what he had overheard. HYDRA's plan to kill people, take over and start their new world order. But Captain America had stopped them. She can see the conflict in his face when he talks about Captain America. She knows there's something there he's not saying, but she doesn't press it. She has other questions that are more pressing.

"You came back for me. You could have just escaped, left me there to die. I don't mean anything to you."

He finally averts his eyes. Rory regrets her words as soon as she says them, seeing the pain on his face. He grimaces, just the sheer will to bring his thoughts forward seeming to cause him pain. "You do mean something. I...I don't really remember what it means. I don't know what it is, but it-it feels...like something."

Rory nods, dropping her eyes to the floor too. "Soulmates. That's what it is. Everyone is supposed to have one, or at least that's what we're told in school. We're supposed to be, like, perfect for each other or something like that. Like we were made for each other." The soldier is silent, Rory habitually chewing on her lip again. "I don't even know your name."

"Bucky." Rory looks up at him. "That's what he called me. Bucky."

She nods. "I'm Rory." The lapse into silence again, Rory picking at her boot laces. "What do we do now?"

"We stay hidden. HYDRA has fractured, but they will gain footing again. They'll come after me again."

Rory nods. "I'll stay with you. I'll help you."

He nods. "We can't stay in one place long. We have enough money for now." He nods at the black box he picked up last night. "There's a HYDRA safe house outside the city. It was empty but we couldn't risk staying there. I took the provisions from it to get us by for now."

They lapse into silence again, Rory taking a moment to look over Bucky again. He looks exhausted, still favoring his right side a bit. There are dark circles under his eyes, and he looks like he needs sleep.

"You should get some rest," Rory says.

Bucky shakes his head. "I can't."

"You're exhausted. You need to rest."

Bucky shakes his head, Rory feeling drawn to get closer to him. For the first time since she'd been rescued, she listens to it, approaching him slowly. He watches her like a hawk, every movement being analyzed. Normally it would have made her feel self-conscious, but she feels none of that as she stops inches from him. She slowly kneels down beside him, slowly reaching out towards him. He watches her face, but she knows he can sense her hand getting close to his face.

Surprisingly he doesn't stop her, her fingers making contact with his cheek. It's rough with stubble, but his skin underneath is smooth and warm. Rory slowly traces his cheek, his eyes softening at her touch. Electricity shoots up her arm from where she's touching him, shooting right through to her very core. She feels her body react to the strange sensation, starting to heat up rapidly. Her fingers start to glow orange, and she tears herself away from him, falling back onto her bottom. She gulps in deep breaths of air, Bucky's hand tightening around the gun in his hand reflexively. She backs up until she hits the bed, pulling her knees to her chest.

"S-Sorry. I...it just takes over sometimes."

Bucky doesn't say anything, copying her position, pulling his knees to his chest. Neither of them speaks for a long time, the sun getting higher and higher in the sky. Rory's stomach starts to growl but she ignores it. Hunger was nothing new to her. Often her punishments involved being denied food for at least a day, sometimes more. She studies her hands, the tips of her fingers slightly blistered from years of trying to control her abilities. Fire seemed to have no effect on her, except for her fingers. They never really healed. Perhaps if she went long enough without using her powers then maybe they would get better. But that would involve being able to control them. Something she hadn't figured out yet.

Bucky finally moves after a couple of hours have gone by. He walks over to the small kitchen, grabbing a can out of the cupboard. He pops the top off of it with his metal hand before handing it to her with a spoon. Canned chili wasn't her favorite, but in that moment she wouldn't have asked for anything else. She downs almost half the can before offering some of it to Bucky. He shakes his head, going back to his post, watching out the window.

Bucky makes them leave that night. They trek through the forest again, Bucky carrying most of the load in a backpack he dug out of the cabin. He had most of the provisions and the weapons in his bag. She had the money and their clothes to change into, along with a bit of food and a couple of weapons. She knows why he did it that way. If they had to split up, she could get away while he gave her time. With the money, she could get herself somewhere safe. Rory hadn't counted it, but from just looking at the stacks when he'd put it in her bag, there had to be a few thousand dollars there at least. Enough to get them somewhere safe to lay low for a while.

"Where are we going?" Rory asks, breaking the silence. She was a few paces behind Bucky, trying to keep up with his fast pace.

"Back to the city."

"Back to the...you said we had to get out of the city."

"There's something I need to do there before we leave."

He doesn't offer her any more details. Rory feels frustrated and tired, all the conditioning HYDRA had made her do didn't make hiking through the woods any easier.

They reach a town at dawn. It's mostly empty, making it easy for them to sneak around. Bucky breaks into a store, grabbing some essential items before hotwiring a car left in a parking lot. It definitely didn't have enough gas to get them further than the city. He made her drive again, something she was getting slowly used to.

They ditch the car before they hit the city, Bucky not wanting to make her drive in morning traffic. There would be too many eyes, too much risk that they would be spotted. Rory can't help but take offense that he means her driving is that bad. But being as inexperienced as she was, she hadn't crashed yet.

Bucky makes her wear the smelly sweatshirt again, pulling a baseball hat on her head. He does the same, having changed out of his tactical gear before they left the cabin. It was currently in her backpack and had to be the heaviest thing in it. Bucky takes her hand, keeping his head down as he leads her through the streets. It's busy as everyone makes their way about their day, most of them part of the morning rush. No one gives them a second glance as they head towards the National Mall.

Bucky stops in front of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Rory wants to ask why they're there, but she knows Bucky wouldn't do anything without a reason. She had never been in the Smithsonian, or even Washington D.C. outside of the HYDRA base, but she hadn't exactly got to sight-see.

Bucky leads her inside, both of them keeping their heads down. The museum is busy, making it easier for them to slip through the crowds without drawing unwanted attention. Bucky leads her towards an exhibit about Captain America. Rory frowns but doesn't ask questions, seeing as Bucky was on a mission to find what he was looking for. Whatever it was.

Rory looks around at the exhibit, taking it all in. She had learned a little about Captain America and his efforts during World War Two in elementary school, and of course, she knew about his return thanks to overhearing a conversation between HYDRA agents. Bucky looks around as well, seeming uncomfortable and almost like he's going to be sick.

Rory nearly runs into him when he stops, stepping to the side to avoid colliding with him. He had stopped in front of a display dedicated to Captain America's best friend and right-hand-man Bucky Barnes. Rory reads through what's written before looking at the picture. It takes her a moment to figure out why he looks so familiar.

Rory moves closer to Bucky, looking back and forth between them a few times before moving fully in front of him. "Holy shit." She whispers, looking up at him wide-eyed. "You're Bucky Ba-"

Bucky's hand over her mouth silences her. He looks almost angry at her for a moment before he relaxes, removing his hand.

"Right. Sorry." She says, moving back to stand beside him.

She wants to ask him a million questions but she lets him take it in. It would be dangerous to say anything in the risk of someone overhearing. She doesn't think anyone around them would care, but with their luck, HYDRA would have sleepers everywhere and one of them would overhear them. Rory feels fear begin to trickle down her spine, everyone around them suddenly feeling like a threat. Every passing glance at them makes her bristle, her body starting to warm up in defense.

She steps closer to Bucky, reaching for his hand. He puts his hand on her back, steering her towards the door. She's starting to sweat, hiding her hands in her pockets as they make their way towards the entrance. Bucky ushers her out, pushing her towards a secluded area where they won't be stared at.

He makes her sit on a bench, kneeling in front of her. He puts his hands on her face, the metal cooling her skin and the flesh hand making goosebumps erupt all over her body. She takes in a few gasps of cool air, calming herself down.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just thought…"

Bucky puts a finger to her lips, quieting her. "It's okay. I didn't plan on staying long anyways."

Rory takes in a couple more breaths before looking up at him. "You're Bucky Barnes. You're Bucky freaking Barnes! Captain America's best friend! What are we doing here? Why aren't we going to him for help?"

Bucky shakes his head, releasing her and standing up. "I can't."

Rory stands on shaking legs, knowing they need to start moving again. "Why not?"

Bucky turns, starting to walk. Rory follows, feeling a lump forming in her throat. Obviously this would be a sensitive subject. But if he was Bucky Barnes, why wouldn't he try to track down Captain America again to get help? It made little sense to her, but she's sure he has his reasons. She wasn't going to push. He was all she had, and she wasn't about to let him go.


	4. Chapter 3

Bucky and Rory keep on the move for a few months. They try to put as much distance between D.C. and themselves as possible. Bucky considers leaving the country to be safe but finding passage without having to reveal their identities was the major cause for delay. Rory adjusts to life on the run, part of her wishing she could go back to her old life, but she knows it would only put her and her family in danger. She doesn’t want to do that, so she sticks with Bucky. He would be her family now. 

He still hadn’t talked to her about Captain America. It seemed like he didn’t want to, but she could see him all the time, writing as much as he could in his notebooks. She never pried, but part of her wanted to know. She was curious, and no doubt it was going to cause her some trouble if she couldn’t get a handle on it. Same story with her powers. 

Bucky was getting closer to her despite his hesitancy to discuss anything. More than once they found themselves in close quarters, forced to stay close to each other not only for warmth but for safety as well. There had been no sign of HYDRA following them, but that doesn’t calm either of their nerves. It should have been a good sign, but it also made them both nervous. There was a chance they had gotten back on their feet faster than expected and they were being followed without realizing it. The need to look over their shoulders would be something that they never got over. 

Currently, they were stuck in a warehouse, huddled together in a corner. It was spring, but it was freezing out at night. The walls around them offered no relief from the cold outside, and Bucky was like a walking heater. It seemed ironic that she was the one with fire powers and he was the one warmer than she was. She just didn’t trust herself enough not to lose control and kill them both in a fiery blaze. 

They were in a sleeping bag, Rory cuddled up against Bucky’s chest. He had his arms around her, his chin resting on top of her head. She was nearly asleep, comforted by the steady beat of his heart and his warmth. The part of her that had been in turmoil since the first time they’d touched seemed to be calmest when she was touching him. It liked her being close to him and she wasn’t going to disagree. Neither of them had showered in a few days, but that didn’t matter. 

Rory is alerted when Bucky’s heart rate picks up. His arm had tightened around her, his breathing slowing so he can listen. He could hear better than she could thanks to his enhancements and obviously something was happening. She stays still, letting him listen, subconsciously holding her own breath. She feels his metal arm move under her makeshift pillow, gripping the gun underneath. She closes her eyes, willing herself to be calm and not scorch them both. 

It happens so fast Rory barely knows what happens. There’s a loud bang as the warehouse doors are forced open, Bucky shoving her down and behind him as he begins firing the gun. There’s response fire, a few bullets hitting above where they’re laying in the corner. There’s a second door off to their left and Rory can feel the vibrations as someone tries to break through. 

Rory loses all control as her fear takes over, and she sheds the heavy jacket she had been wearing, moving to stand. Bucky ducks down as he grabs a different gun, but he doesn’t need it. A feral scream leaves Rory’s lips as fire erupts from her hands, shooting towards the figures in the doorway. She can hear their screams over her own, the people coming in the other door quickly finding a fiery inferno. She can feel Bucky moving behind her, her own strength starting to wane. She hadn’t used her powers at such full force since the first time HYDRA had seen them. They had forced her to show them everything, and she had, nearly burning the base to the ground. 

She falls to her knees as the fire dies, those who had been smart enough not to run into the warehouse taking a moment for the fire to go out. It’s all Bucky needs, his arm wrapping around her waist and hauling her to her feet. He breaks a window, sending her through first before crawling out after her. He stays low, racing towards the car they had stolen. Bullets hit the car before they can get to it, pain erupting in Rory’s shoulder but she keeps moving, pulled forward half by Bucky and half by the waning adrenaline coursing through her. Bucky ducks down behind the car, bullets still hitting it. Rory can feel something wet dripping down her face, her body starting to go numb with exhaustion. 

“Bucky...you have to go.” 

Bucky ducks down close to her. “I’m not leaving you.” 

“They want you. You know what they will do if they get you again. They won’t stop until they get you. I’ll slow them down. You get out of here. Leave me behind. They can’t get us both.” 

Bucky looks like he wants to argue but he knows she’s right. He had a better chance of getting away if she stayed behind. She could distract them and give him a head start. She cups his cheek, leaving bloody smears on his face. She doesn’t say anything but they both understand. 

Bucky waits for the reload before he takes off, running into the trees, leaving his soulmate behind. 

* * *

Rory has lost all sense of time. She remembers when HYDRA found them, she remembers using her powers to fry half of the agents. She remembers telling Bucky to leave, the pain in his face as he’d left her there at HYDRA’s mercy. Had that been days ago? Weeks? Months? They had tried using her to get to him, tried getting her to tell them where he was going, but she didn’t know. He had left her, but he couldn’t let himself fall into HYDRA’s hands again. Part of her hopes he went to Captain America, and maybe he could convince the Avengers to help. 

Rory is exhausted and weak, her shoulder stiff from the bullet she’d taken. The skin is puckered red and she’ll know she’ll sport a scar for the rest of her life. She keeps herself sane thinking about Bucky. Him being safe, remembering things about his past. Finding somewhere he could be happy. Or maybe he would be trying to find her. Save her for a second time. She hopes it’s the former. 

She had been planning her escape for a while. It was a small base in a busy city. She could hear the noise of the city outside. A small base meant a small number of guards. She just had to find the right moment, and she could get herself out. 

That moment came sooner than she thought. 

A guard slipped up when he brought her dinner. At least, she thought it was dinner. He had left the door open as he brought the tray into her room. All it takes is a wave of fire and quick movements and she’s out the door before it slams closed. An alarm is blaring, making it harder for her to hear, and she knows it’s only a matter of time before the whole base is on her, but she has to try. 

She musters up as much strength as she can, running in the direction she assumes is the way out. She tries to use her powers as little as possible, sticking to brute force to take out the guards she encounters on the way. She steals a gun from the first one she takes down, using it until the clip is empty. There were more guards than she thought, and she quickly finds herself boxed in. She has to be close to the door out since most of them would think she was making a run for it and gather near the door to stop her. She closes her eyes for a moment, concentrating. She can feel her body warming, her fingers starting to burn as her fire courses through her. She holds her hands out, blasting flames at the guards, spinning in a circle to hit as many of them as she can. She can hear them, smell their skin burning but she doesn’t stop. She can’t stop. She feels more powerful than she ever has before. The flames whir around her, burning everything in their path but she doesn’t care. She doesn’t stop. Not until long after the hall has gone silent. 

As soon as she stops she can feel her energy plummet. She nearly loses her footing, her legs wobbling weakly. Something wet is dripping down her cheeks and into her mouth but she doesn’t stop to wipe it away. One more turn around a corner and she can see the way out. Her vision is in and out, going blurry as she presses on towards the door. Her ears are ringing, the alarm not helping, and she doesn’t hear the guard behind her. She’s almost to the door when pain rips through her side. The force of it shoves her against the door, her hands leaving bloody marks but she can’t feel anything but the pain in her side. She doesn’t stop, doesn’t turn around, instead throwing the door open, racing into the cold night air. 

It’s snowing, big wet flakes falling to the ground. She comes out in an alleyway, and she makes her way to the street. It’s nighttime, the city quiet which she’s thankful for. She looks up, looking for any kind of landmark of where she is. Then she sees it. Standing tall a few blocks away is Avengers Tower. She had seen it once in passing back when she was with HYDRA. They were monitoring it after the attack on New York. They wanted to make sure the Avengers weren’t going to be a problem for them. 

Rory can hardly stand but she forces one last burst of energy, creating a portal in front of her. She doesn’t stop to look around, throwing herself through it, catching herself on the other side a few feet from the front doors of Avengers Tower. She nearly blacks out as the portal closes behind her, clinging to a street lamp as her legs give out under her. She’s exhausted and bleeding and she’d used more power in one night than she ever had before. Just a few more feet and she would be inside. She would tell them everything and maybe they could help her. If Bucky hadn’t gone to Captain America, then she would. 

Rory drags herself back to her feet, unable to stand up straight as pain rips through her side. The right side of her shirt is soaked in blood, leaving a trail in the newly fallen snow. She drags her feet, nearly slipping as she makes her way to the glass doors. She prays they’ll be open, nearly crying in relief as the door swings inward. 

The lobby inside is quiet, her wet boots squeaking on the floor. The man at the front desk looks up as she makes her way in. She must have looked like the walking dead because he’s on his feet immediately, phone in hand. 

“I need...to see...Avengers...HYDRA…” She can’t force any more words out, her legs giving out under her. She hits the tile floor, her vision tunneling before going completely black, delivering her into blissful nothingness. 


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rory finally gets to meet a couple Avengers in this one. But of course fate has to throw her a curveball.

Tony had been sleeping well for the first time in weeks. Of course, he had been forced into bed and forced to sleep but it had worked, and he had been sleeping until the blaring alarm woke him. He reaches over blindly, trying to find his phone. Bruce shifts beside him in the bed, reaching for his own phone. Tony squints and the screen, seeing the security alert flashing. He sits up, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Talk to me JARVIS."

" _A young woman in physical distress has entered the tower and asked to speak to the Avengers."_

Tony brings up the security footage from a few moments ago, letting it play. The girl was young and obviously hurt, leaving blood all over his lobby. She had asked to speak to the Avengers, mentioning HYDRA before she had fallen, going limp on the floor. Tony is out of bed instantly, pulling on his clothes.

"Prep the med bay. I'm going to go down there and see what's going on." He says to Bruce, pulling on his shoes before hurrying to the elevator.

The elevator stops to pick up Steve on the way to the lobby.

"Did you get the alert too?" He asks as the soldier joins him.

"Everyone did. Nat's analyzing the footage and sending it to Hill, seeing if we can't get any information on the girl."

Tony nods. "I'll have JARVIS take a look too. Something about this doesn't feel right."

Steve can hardly disagree. He had been awake, pouring over Sam's latest updates on his search for Bucky when the alert had come in. He had hoped for a moment maybe it was Bucky, but perhaps that was just his sleep-deprived brain. But when he had seen the mention of HYDRA, he knew it was worth looking into. They had been raiding HYDRA bases for the past two months and if this girl could help them, then it would be all the better.

Security has closed off the lobby when they arrive. The girl had made a bloody mess, her handprints stuck on the doors and a trail leading to the desk sticking out stark crimson against the white tile. There was a pool of blood forming under her as well, one of the guards putting pressure on the source. Tony speaks with the front desk man while Steve looks over the girl. She's young, younger than he had thought in the video. Her face is covered in streaks of blood and so were her hands. She was pale and he could see the sweat beaded on her forehead. He doesn't think twice, scooping her up and carrying her back to the elevator.

Bruce is waiting in the med bay, JARVIS already running a diagnostic on the girl. The gunshot wound was the most pressing, as was the potential fever she was running. Bruce hardly acknowledges Steve as he lays the girl down, already going to work with one of his assistants to get the girl stabilized.

Steve leaves the med bay, knowing he can't be of any help right now. They had to keep her alive, and then he could question her. He looks down at his hands, stained from the girl's blood. He feels his stomach twist painfully at the thoughts running through his head, going back to his room to clean up and maybe get some information on the mystery girl.

Nat is waiting for him when he arrives back in his room. He nods to her before going to the bathroom to clean up. Nat hands the tablet over to him when he comes out, a picture of the girl standing out to him.

"We don't have much yet but Hill is looking through HYDRA's files that we gained when the files were dumped on the internet. Her name is Aurora Davis, she's sixteen years old from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was reported missing by her school when she was 10."

Steve nods, looking through the file. She was right, there wasn't much. Maybe Hill and Stark could come up with more. Now it was just up to Bruce to make sure she made it through the night.

* * *

Rory feels like she's trying to swim through peanut butter. She's exhausted and in pain, but there's an infernal beeping that won't quit, disturbing her rest. She peels her eyes open, trying to remember what happened. She had been with Bucky running, and then HYDRA had captured her. She had tried to escape and run...but had she succeeded? She can't remember most of what happened after she started using her powers. When she burned the guards.

She blinks away the blurriness, finding herself looking up at a man in a white lab coat. Her mind immediately goes back to when she had been tested on by HYDRA, seeing the men in lab coats standing over her, feeling the pain of what they did to her. She immediately starts to panic, her body heating up, ready to defend her.

The man holds his hands up, speaking to her. It takes her a moment to register his voice, her blood pulsing in her ears. The machines that had been beeping are beeping faster now, more than one beeping now too.

"It's alright. You're safe. I'm not going to hurt you."

She doesn't want to believe him, but his voice is calm and quiet and it makes her want to calm down. She takes a few breaths, trying to get herself to cool off. Her hospital gown is sticking to her skin, sweat dripping down her forehead.

"I'm Dr. Banner. You were hurt pretty bad. I stitched you up." He glances at something over her head. "Your body temperature is really high. I need you to try and relax."

Rory closes her eyes, focusing on her breathing. The beeping slows as she calms down, relaxing back into the pillows. She remembers being shot, escaping the base, teleporting herself to Avengers Tower. She had made it inside and then everything had gone dark. Perhaps they had helped her. Maybe they could help her find Bucky.

"Can I have some water?" She asks, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"Sure."

She opens her eyes as the doctor walks over to the sink, filling a paper cup with water. He brings it back over, helping her drink from it. It's cool and tastes better than anything she's had in a long time, even though it's just water.

"Thank you."

Bruce nods. "You're welcome. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Rory sits still for a moment, thinking it over. "I...I don't really remember."

Bruce nods again. "It's okay. Sometimes it takes a while to remember after something so traumatic."

Rory swallows the lump in her throat, nodding. She felt uncomfortable being around someone so...nice. Genuinely nice. The HYDRA agents had been nice to her when she first was taken, but that was quickly revealed to be a ruse. Dr. Banner could be acting as well, but part of her was saying he wasn't acting.

Rory looks down at the mark on her arm. Her chest started to hurt at the thought of Bucky. He was somewhere out there, somewhere on his own. At least she hoped that was the case. What if HYDRA had found him again? What if he was being tortured again? Rory pushes herself into a sitting position, ignoring the protest from her aching side.

"I need to see Captain America."

Dr. Banner is on his feet quickly, trying to get her to lay back down. "I don't think you're ready for that yet."

"I need to talk to Captain America."

Bruce grips her shoulders lightly, his fingers brushing against the bare skin on her arm revealed by the hospital gown. Rory's stomach lurches, almost like she had been on a ship that had suddenly been tossed by a wave. Or on a roller coaster that had suddenly dropped vertically. Electricity shoots through her body, stemming from where his fingers are on her bare skin.

He looks just as surprised as she does. His soft brown eyes are open wide, staring at her with disbelief and she's sure her own green eyes are mirroring the feeling. Her skin starts to tingle and she knows there's a mark appearing where his hand is. He blinks a few times before pulling his hand away, looking unsure of what to do with himself.

"I...I...Wasn't expecting that."

Rory can't bring words to her lips so she just shakes her head. The beeping has returned to a fast pace and she realizes that must be her heart. Rory looks down at her shoulder, pulling the sleeve of the gown up a bit. Forming on her skin is a spiral, thick black lines spiraling out from the center, working their way around her upper arm. She looks back up at Dr. Banner, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. She had more than one soulmate. She had thought Bucky would be it, but she had one more. She knew it wasn't uncommon for people to have more than one soulmate, but generally, it topped out at two or three. Did she have more? It wasn't like she was going to go around touching people, searching for her soulmate. She knew some people did that, but she was always told fate would bring them together somehow. You didn't have a soulmate and then never get to meet them. That's not how it worked. So maybe fate had brought her to New York and helped her escape HYDRA. But if that was the case, why had it taken Bucky from her?

Rory wants to curl up in a ball, but the pain in her side keeps her from doing it. Bruce looks like he wants to be anywhere else, looking uncomfortable where he's standing. Rory's hand is moving before she can realize what she's doing, reaching out for him again. He hesitates for a moment before stepping closer, taking her hand. His hand is rough, reminding her of Bucky's hand. She swallows down the memory, clinging to Dr. Banner's hand.

"This is uh, rather unexpected."

Rory nods. "Yeah. It certainly complicates things."

Bruce runs his thumb over the back of her hand. Her skin tingles where he touches it, but it's not overwhelming. It seems almost to be an unconscious movement. "You've done this before."

Rory nods, glancing down at Bucky's mark. "We were together for a while. But we got separated. He's out there somewhere. I'm going to find him again."

Bruce nods, squeezing her hand. "You should get some rest. You need to heal more before I can let you move too much."

Rory nods, relaxing back against the bed. Bruce releases her hand, letting it fall back to the bed. He turns, leaving the room, leaving Rory alone.

* * *

Rory's not sure how long she sleeps for. It's dark out when she wakes again, the room quiet. She looks back down at her arm, the two marks almost touching. She had met another soulmate. She had two soulmates. She had been driven from the arms of one right into the arms of another. Her mother used to believe that everything happens for a reason. She didn't want to believe that. But if she hadn't been taken by HYDRA, she wouldn't have met Bucky. If she hadn't been taken from Bucky, she might never have met her other soulmate. Even though her mother may have been right, she still hated the idea. She had gone through so much at HYDRA's hands all for what? The chance to meet her soulmates?

The idea didn't sit well with her.

But thankfully she's distracted from that thought when realization hits her. Just a few inches below Bucky's mark, near her wrist, is a small white scar. She hadn't even thought of it until that moment. Maybe she had been looking at it wrong all along.

Rory disconnects herself from all the wires hooked to her, disconnecting her IV before sliding out of bed. Pain ripples through her side but she pushes through, going to the cabinets and digging through them, looking for a scalpel and some tweezers. She finds what she needs, going over to a table and opening them up. She takes a few deep breaths, her left hand shaking as she holds the scalpel. It was going to hurt, but she had to do it.

She bites her lip, digging the scalpel into her skin over the scar. She makes a cut two inches long, digging the scalpel in deep. Tears roll down her cheeks as she holds in her screams, hot pain burning through her. Her body heats up in defense, but she pushes it back, taking a couple of steadying breaths. The machines she had been hooked to are beeping wildly, and she knows it'll be only a matter of time before someone comes in to check on her. She takes a deep breath before pulling the skin she cut apart, reaching in with the tweezers. She braces herself on the table, her legs going weak from the pain. She lets out a sob, the tweezers hitting something inside her arm that almost makes her blackout. She chases the spots from her vision, looking in and seeing the small chip in her arm. She vaguely hears the doors slide open, two people shouting as they enter. She feels like she's listening underwater, yanking the chip out of her arm as her legs give out.

She's caught before she hits the floor, her vision going black for a few moments. She comes back to as Bruce hooks her back up to the machines. There's someone else there in the room, looking at the chip she had pulled from her arm.

"Destroy it." She says, looking up at him. She recognizes him from when she was a kid. She had seen his pictures all the time on the cover of magazines and on TV. "They were...tracking me."

"That is definitely not the best way to remove a tracking chip, kid." Tony Stark says to her.

"You should have said something," Bruce says, putting pressure on the cut. "We could have done it for you, without the pain."

"I had to get it out. They were gonna find me." Tears roll down her cheeks again. She was just tired of HYDRA and tired of constantly feeling like they were breathing down her neck. She was tired of being in pain and tired of being afraid.

"Hey, kid. It's okay. I get it." Tony puts the tracking chip down, leaning on the side of her bed. "But you're safe here, alright? They wouldn't dare come here looking for you. You have the Avengers at your back now. They'd have to get through us before they'd ever get you again."

Rory's stomach lurches again and this time she nearly pukes. She looks down at where Tony Stark is holding onto her hand. She can't tell if it's the sensation of Bruce stitching the wound on her arm or the fact that she was meeting another soulmate not even 24 hours after meeting her second, or perhaps both. Rory struggles to breathe, her body heat spiking once again. The machines start beeping, Tony and Bruce both looking up at them.

"Hey, kid, breathe." Tony puts his other hand on her shoulder. "No need to go all supernova on us."

Rory shakes her head, feeling her control slipping, nearly hyperventilating. "I can't. I can't."

Something gets put over her face, blowing cool air over her mouth and nose. She grips the sides of the bed, feeling the plastic melting under her hands as she closes her eyes, trying to control her breathing. The oxygen mask helps, letting her take deeper, fuller breaths. Eventually, her body cools down, relaxing back against the bed.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean...I'm sorry."

Both Tony and Bruce are watching her, Bruce looking at her with a knowing look of pity and Tony looking at her in a fascinated way.

"You have any control over that, kid?"

Rory keeps her gaze down, shaking her head. "No."

Tony takes a step closer, his movements slow and calculated, trying not to scare her into burning down his tower. "We can help you with that. Teach you to control it."

Rory leans her head back against the pillow. "HYDRA tried to help me. They couldn't do it."

Tony is silent for a moment. "We're not HYDRA. We do things differently than they do."

Rory wants to believe him, but seeing as she had no other experience aside from HYDRA, she can't trust his words completely. She knows she should, she had been the one to seek them out. But she hadn't exactly expected her soul to complicate things like it loved to.

"Look, you've had a rough couple of days," Bruce says, wrapping gauze around her stitched up arm to cover it. "Why don't you focus on healing first, and then we can think about what happens next."

Rory nods, taking a few deep breaths. He was right, so much had happened ever since Bucky helped her escape HYDRA and even though she shouldn't have felt safe, she was comforted knowing she was in a tower full of people like her, people who hated HYDRA as much as she did.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers try to figure out what to do. Nat takes control of the situation.

Tony's body is still buzzing as he carries the tracking chip to his lab. He'd gone most of his life thinking he didn't have a soulmate, and then he met Natasha. It wasn't long before he learned she had been lying to him and was actually a sleeper agent for SHIELD that he figured out she was his soulmate. He had wanted to hate her and her stuffy indifference, but after New York and their forced agreement to be on the same team, things had changed. Of course, he had met Banner and Rogers, two more soulmates, one of whom he spent his whole life detesting more than anything. Barton and Thor also came into the picture, only complicating things further. He wasn't exactly one to open up, but then again none of them really were. Except maybe Barton, but Tony knew even he had his secrets still.

They had all mutually agreed to go their separate ways after New York and visit one another occasionally. That had worked until SHIELD fell and HYDRA was revealed to the world. Then they were all forced together again for their own safety, as well as the ease of having everyone close in case something popped up. And it wasn't long after the whole debacle that something did pop up. Their constant raids on HYDRA, both looking to take out the organization and their search for Loki's scepter kept them together and brought them closer and closer. But despite their close proximity for the past few months, they had all felt like something was missing. Some missing piece of the puzzle. Something to hold them all together.

And then Aurora appeared. The last thing Tony had expected when he saw the sixteen-year-old was that she would be his soulmate. First off, she was just so young. He had already graduated from college and become CEO of Stark Industries before she was born. Of course, age wasn't exactly a major player in their little circle of relationships. Steve was technically in his 90s and Thor was older than any of them knew. Romanoff was the youngest out of all of them, but she was at least old enough to vote. Aurora was a kid compared to all of them. A kid who was his soulmate. Not only his but also Bruce's. A damaged and hurt kid.

Tony has JARVIS run diagnostics on the tracking chip while he goes back to flipping through HYDRA's files. Hill had dug up HYDRA's files on Aurora and Tony wanted to learn as much as he could to prepare himself now that he knew he had a deeper connection to her than just saving her life. He had also seen the potential her powers had during her little outburst. HYDRA had said they were tied to her emotions. Acted as a defense mechanism for her. That meant she had almost no control over them. If she decided to stay with the Avengers, he would have to make some adjustments to the fire safety protocols.

Tony sits and reads through the rest of the night, heading down to the kitchen for coffee. Bruce is already down there, making himself some tea.

Tony makes himself his coffee, stirring his sugar in. "We need to tell them."

Bruce gives Tony a look. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"They deserve to know."

"But we don't know for sure yet."

"I know you can feel it. I can too. She might be the one."

Bruce shakes his head. "We don't know for sure. You saw what happened when she got overwhelmed. We can't have them all racing up there and crowding her, wanting to see if it's true. Someone could get hurt, and we could scare her away.

"Then we tell them and we tell them everything. Make sure they don't go and upset her and possibly make her burn the tower down."

Bruce shakes his head, taking a sip of his tea. He knows he can't convince Tony otherwise once he decides on something. "If you're going to tell them, then she deserves to know too."

Tony nods. "Agreed. She seems to like you the best so you can tell her." He steps over to Bruce, wrapping an arm around him. "This will be good. We need something besides just waiting for the next HYDRA base to pop up."

Bruce can't do anything but nod, taking another sip of his tea, both of their attention drawn to the door as Steve comes in. He nods his greeting, going for the coffee pot himself.

"How's the patient?" Steve asks as he pours himself some coffee.

Bruce gives Tony a look and he raises his hands, going over to the table. "She woke up yesterday, but she has a lot of healing left to do."

Steve stands across the kitchen from Bruce. "I want to talk to her as soon as possible."

Bruce shakes his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"She mentioned HYDRA. She might know where there's another base, and it would be one close by. One we missed. They could be under our very noses, and that puts her and everyone else in danger."

Bruce shakes his head again. "She showed her powers last night. She's...unstable. Gets overwhelmed easily. If we don't give her time to heal and adjust, then things could get dangerous."

"Things could get dangerous if we don't find out information from her as soon as possible."

"We have to pick the lesser of two evils," Tony says, leaning back in his chair.

"To me, that's her," Steve says, looking at Bruce.

Bruce sighs, his shoulders slumping. He knows he can't win this argument. He knows too it's important for them to make sure Aurora is safe, and they can't do that if HYDRA is hiding under their noses. Better to risk her reacting badly in a somewhat stable environment than having HYDRA attempt to get to her and hurt innocent people in the process. The sooner they could take down HYDRA, the safer everyone will be.

"After breakfast when I take her vitals. I'll see how she's doing and if she's alright then you go and talk to her."

Steve nods. "Thank you, Doctor."

Bruce nods, Thor and Nat joining them in the kitchen. Thor squeezes Bruce's shoulder as he moves past him to get started on breakfast for the team. Steve sits across from Tony at the table, Nat joining them, asking about Aurora. It doesn't take long for Clint to join them, the smell of Thor's pancakes drawing him to the kitchen.

Tony lets everyone eat their breakfast before he decides to break the news to them. He pulls the tracking chip out of his pocket, having put it in a petri dish for the time being. He sets it on the table before standing up, facing the team. They quiet down, looking to him.

"I know everyone has their questions about our guest, and there are some things that have come to light overnight. First, was this." He holds up the tracking chip. "They were tracking her location and had been for quite a long time. I'm having JARVIS run a backward trace on it, seeing if we can't pinpoint where the tracking info is going." He puts the tracking chip back down, taking a moment to breathe. "The second thing is that Bruce and I found out she's our soulmate last night." Everyone shares a look, all wanting to ask the same question. "I know we've all been thinking the same thing and we all want to know the same thing. But, as Bruce and I learned last night, she's overwhelmed easily. She melted through plastic like it was nothing. We can't overwhelm her and risk someone getting hurt. So, for the time being, Bruce and I agree it would be best to leave her alone, except for Steve who wants to see if she knows anything else about HYDRA that we don't already know."

"We have to be careful," Bruce says. "She's unstable, not just in her inexperience with her abilities. HYDRA has had her since she was 10 years old and I don't know all of what they did to her, but she's terrified."

"I'll talk to her. See if I can't get anything out of her." Nat says.

"I don't know if it's a good idea to introduce her to someone else right away," Bruce says.

"I'm the most likely person out of everyone to get something out of her." The five men at the table share the same look. "It's simple psychology. She's been surrounded by HYDRA for six years, and I'm willing to bet most of them were men. She's more likely to respond best to a woman's presence anyways, but, no offense, the likelihood of her getting scared and losing control is higher if she's surrounded by men pushing her to discuss something that's probably horrifically traumatic to her. This needs a woman's touch."

* * *

Rory wakes up to the smell of something delicious. It smells sweet and reminds her of home. She cracks her eyes open, finding it's light outside again. She blinks away the sleepiness, turning to find the source of the delicious smells. She's surprised to find a redheaded woman sitting by the bed, next to a stack of pancakes on a bedside table. The woman smiles softly at her, Rory's mouth going dry. The woman was stunningly beautiful but she had a comforting air about her. It had been a long time since Rory had felt truly comforted in the presence of anyone.

"Hi." The woman says, keeping a smile on her face. "I brought you some breakfast in case you were hungry. We didn't know if you liked any addons in your pancakes so Thor left them plain."

Rory nods slowly, eyeing between the woman and the pancakes. She was starving. She can't remember the last time she had a good meal.

"I'm Natasha, but everyone calls me Nat. Go on." Nat pushes the table so its over the bed, close enough that Rory can reach the pancakes. "Eat as much as you want."

Rory eyes her again before cutting into the pancakes. The thought drifts through her mind that they could be drugged or poisoned but she was so hungry and they looked so good she pushes the thought aside, digging in.

"You're Aurora, right?" Nat asks her after a few moments of silence.

"Rory." She swallows a bite of pancake. "I go by Rory."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Rory. You caused quite the stir by your arrival, but we're glad you're here. We've been raiding all the HYDRA bases we can find, trying to keep them from forming back up to the power they were before. We've also been looking for an item that was in SHIELD's control but was taken by HYDRA and could potentially be dangerous."

Rory stares down at her pancakes, feeling like she can trust Nat, but that thought has her bristling a little. She doesn't quite know what to think or feel. She desperately wants to trust Nat, her comforting presence a breath of fresh air compared to everything she'd been through. She wants to let the dam down, spill everything to Nat but she can't shake the feeling that she's being used.

"You can talk to me. I know what it's like. I was taken when I was young too. Taught to be someone else."

"I need to talk to Captain America." Rory picks at her pancakes now, not quite as hungry as she was before.

Nat leans forward, resting her arms on the edge of the bed. "Whatever you need to say to him, you can say to me. I know him well. I've worked with him, trained with him. I'll tell him anything you need to say to him."

Rory looks down, placing her fork down on her plate. She wants to trust her, trust that she really will do what she says. She finds herself spilling everything, telling her about HYDRA, about Bucky, about them running. She doesn't realize she's crying until she finishes, feeling the warm wetness on her face. She sniffles, wiping her face using the scratchy blanket. Her side hurts from the force of her crying, and she takes deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.

"It's okay," Nat says, rubbing her shoulder, being careful not to touch her bare skin. "I can't imagine how terrifying it must have been for you. But you made it here. You're safe now. Steve has been looking for Bucky non-stop since SHIELD fell. He'll find him and we'll bring him back here and you can be together again." Rory nods, staying quiet. Nat smiles softly at her. "How about I convince Bruce to let you clean up a little bit. It may only be a sponge bath but maybe you can wash your hair. Would you like that?"

Rory nods. She can't remember the last time she properly washed her hair.

Nat grins. "I'll go track him down. You finish your food."

* * *

Rory finishes her pancakes just moments before Nat comes back with a towel and a couple of bottles. Bruce is behind her, and he comes over, starting to disconnect her from all the wires.

"I'll let you take a shower, but be careful not to get the stitches too wet."

Rory nods, taking a moment to stand from the bed. Her side starts to ache again, but she pushes through the pain, letting her body get used to standing again. Bruce helps her over to the bathroom, letting Nat take over once he's sure she's steady. Nat sets the towel and the bottles down on the counter, pulling out a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants as well.

"You can change into those when you're done. I'll be outside the door in case you need any help."

"Thank you."

Rory waits until the door is closed, feeling weird for being able to shower by herself. She can't remember the last time she did that either. She turns the water on, making sure it's perfect before stripping out of the hospital gown. She avoids looking at herself in the mirror before climbing into the shower. She focuses on washing her hair, using a cloth to clean the areas around her stitches and other wounds. It feels good, being in the warm water and being clean. She had forgotten what it felt like to be taken care of.

She takes care as she leaves the shower, drying herself off before putting on the sweats and t-shirt. They're slightly too big, but they're clean. Rory opens the door, Nat standing outside just like she promised she would. She smiles at Rory, helping her back to the bed. Bruce re-dresses her wounds when she's comfortable, making sure everything is healing properly, before taking his leave again.

Nat holds up a hairbrush, smiling at Rory. "Would you like me to brush your hair?"

Rory nods. "Yes please."

Rory sits up as best as she can, letting Nat run the brush through her hair. It's a tangled mess but Nat is gentle, not pulling her hair like the agents always did. She had been so happy when they'd let her brush her own hair. Nat hums softly as she does it, working all the tangles out before starting to braid it. Rory nearly falls asleep until she feels Nat's fingers brush against her neck, her body tensing up as electricity flows through her. She almost forgets to breathe, Nat's hands stopping what they're doing. The skin along her neck and left shoulder are tingling, her heart rate picking back up again.

"Why do I feel like there's a pattern happening?" Rory asks, taking deep breaths.

Nat quickly finishes the braid. "I think because there is one."

Rory leans back in the bed, Nat taking her seat again. "That's something we wanted to tell you about. All of us, the Avengers, we're all soulmates. But we've felt like there was someone else that was supposed to be with us. And then you appeared."

Rory looks down at her lap. "And I already know Bruce and Tony are my soulmates, and now you."

"We think you may be Steve, Clint and Thor's soulmate as well. But we were supposed to hold off on touching you so we didn't overwhelm you."

Rory nods. "Okay. I...I don't really know what to say."

Nat smiles at her softly. "It's okay. You don't have to say anything."

They lapse into silence for a while, Rory playing with her fingers, trying to get the courage to ask Nat to see Steve. She wanted to talk to him and she knew he'd want to know about HYDRA.

"Nat?" She asks, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I want to talk to Steve."

Nat sits forward in her chair. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea right now."

"I want to talk to him about Bucky."

Nat takes a deep breath in, looking at Rory's face for a few moments before nodding. "Alright. I'll go get him."


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rory talks with Steve. HYDRA is closer than originally thought.

Nat hasn't been gone very long when Captain America comes into the room. He had either been close to where she was, or he had run all the way. By the look on his face, it could have been either. She had seen a similar look on Bucky's face when they'd visited the Smithsonian. Hopeful uncertainty mixed with pain and disbelief.

He stops a couple of feet from the bed. Rory had only ever seen him in pictures and he was definitely bigger and more imposing in person.

"Nat said you wanted to talk to me." He says, eyeing her with bright blue eyes. They were less steely than Bucky's, but she can feel the power behind them. He was used to being in control and making sure others knew it without having to say anything.

Rory nods. "Yes. I wanted to tell you about HYDRA. And about Bucky."

He shifts slightly at the mention of Bucky. "HYDRA first. Where are they at?"

"Somewhere in the city. Not far from here. I-I don't know exactly, but I came out in an alley and I could see the tower from the street."

"Do you know which direction you were?"

"West, I think. But I can't be positive."

He nods. "That's alright. It gives us a place to start looking."

Rory bites her lip, looking down at the mark on her arm. He doesn't say anything, but she knows he wants to ask. "I met him two years ago. They had taken him out of cryo for something. They were having problems controlling him, so they brought me in. Sometimes if I can concentrate enough, I can get into people's heads, but I'm not very good at it. They wanted me to calm him down, but as soon as we touched…"

Steve steps closer to the bed, his heart pounding in his chest. It's the first news he'd heard of Bucky other than rumors and what he could decipher from HYDRA's files. They hadn't made any mention of her connection with Bucky or him having another soulmate. He reacts before he can think about it, following her gaze down to her arm. He grabs her arm in his hand, spotting the mark before it hits him.

Rory's stomach lurches as he grabs her arm, and this time her breakfast does come up. She manages to lean over the side of the bed away from him, emptying the contents of her stomach on the floor. She feels tears of embarrassment sting her eyes, her body shaking and hot but not from her powers. Her side is burning from the force of her vomiting, and she doesn't want to turn around and face him. She flinches as she sees his hand coming towards her face, expecting him to hit her, yell at her, berate her for making a mess.

Instead, his fingers brush the hair away from her face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." He helps her roll back over, adjusting her pillows for her. "I just couldn't believe Bucky had someone else…"

Rory frowns, looking up at him. He did look guilty, the disbelief still in his eyes. He doesn't say anything else as he turns slightly, pulling up his t-shirt to reveal his left side. There on his skin was a rose, vines weaving across his muscles in all directions. It was the same spot her skin was tingling, her left side right under her breast.

Rory looks back up at his face, swallowing the lump and the taste of bile from her throat. "He saved my life. When HYDRA fell, they were going to kill me but he showed up at the base and got me out. I didn't think he remembered meeting there. I didn't think he'd remember me. But he did. He told me about fighting you, remembering. I guess whatever you did made him remember a lot more than just you. We stayed on the run for a while, trying to keep off of HYDRA's radar, but they found us. We were forced to separate and HYDRA took me."

"You should have come to me. I would have helped you."

"I wanted to. I told him to, but I guess the memories were too painful, too much for him all at once. Before we left D.C. we went to the Smithsonian. To your exhibit. That's when I found out who he was. I think it was too much for him. But he was remembering. He wrote it all down in notebooks. Any chance he could."

"Do you know where he went?"

Rory shakes her head. "No. He...he talked about leaving the country, but getting overseas without having to reveal ourselves was the difficult part. He may have found a way and left."

"Do you think he'd come if you found a way to contact him."

As much as it pains her, Rory shakes her head. "No. HYDRA tried to use me to drag him back. Tried to lure him into traps. He'd probably think it was another one. I don't think if I even went to find him he'd believe it. I think he needs to work through some things on his own. Figure things out for himself before he comes back."

Steve nods. "Thank you." He looks like he wants to say something else, but the doors opening cuts him off.

"What happened?" Bruce comes in, having been alerted by JARVIS that Rory had been sick.

"I think Stark was right," Steve says, looking to the doctor.

"He's my soulmate too," Rory says, keeping her gaze down. "But I got sick...I think eating was too much, mixed with my body's reaction to him. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have puked on the floor."

Bruce smiles sadly down at her. "It's alright. You couldn't help it. I'll have someone come and clean it up."

Rory finds herself alone again with Steve. It's silent between them, but she can't help but feel an unspoken bond between them. A bond that was missing the third person involved.

"I should go update the rest of the team on what you told me," Steve says, taking a step back from Rory's bed.

She reaches out, grabbing his arm. "Promise me you'll find him."

Steve puts his hand over hers, running his thumb over her skin. "I promise."

Rory nods, letting him go, feeling satisfied with his answer. She leans back in her bed again, letting her eyes drift closed. It had been another long day and it wasn't even lunch yet. At least, she thought it wasn't. She wasn't doing well with gauging time, but at least she could see daylight in this room and she would be fed.

The doors open, but Rory doesn't open her eyes. She assumes it's a janitor to clean up her mess. She feels bad at having made the mess in the first place. She hears the person moving around the room before coming closer to her. It's quiet for a few moments before he begins to speak.

"You always were making messes, weren't you."

Rory's eyes snap open, hoping she had just misheard the man speaking. "I'm sorry?"

The man turns to look at her, a scar running down one side of his face. She feels a pit form in her stomach, her heart rate starting to pick up. "At least HYDRA made you clean up your messes yourself."

His hand shoots out, wrapping around her neck, squeezing. She chokes around it, gripping his wrist trying to kick at him. He grabs a knife with his free hand, bringing it close to her face.

"You remember me, don't you? You marked my face, I'm just making things even."

Rory grabs his other wrist, trying to keep the knife away from her face. She knew he was going to do more to her than just "make things even." She can feel her body warming up, her hands starting to burn. She can smell his burning flesh as he screams in pain, releasing her. She should have stopped, but she can't, sliding off the bed as he backs away from her, tripping over the mop. Fire shoots from her hands, engulfing the man in flames. Alarms are blaring and lights are flashing but she doesn't care. Her energy is draining but she can't bring herself to stop, even after the man goes silent. She's done letting HYDRA try to rule her life. She's done living in fear. She can taste the blood dripping out of her nose, her vision starting to go blurry from the exertion.

Someone calling her name has her pulling herself out of oblivion. The fire dies from her hands, her knees going weak under her. She's caught before she hits the ground and lifted into a pair of arms. She vaguely recognizes the feeling of electricity shooting through her body but she quickly loses all ability to feel anything, drifting into unconsciousness.

* * *

Steve had been the first one to arrive at the med bay as soon as the alarms started going off. He feels guilty like he shouldn't have left her alone. But how were they supposed to know, when even JARVIS, nor Stark's intense security measures hadn't caught him. He's shocked to see her standing, fire erupting from her hands. There's a dark look on her face, chilling him to the bone.

Tony, Thor, and Bruce are right behind him, all three of them coming to a stop. All three of them look just as shocked as he feels, looking at their soulmate currently roasting a man alive. None of them know what to do, worried if they approach her, she might accidentally roast them too. Steve does the next best thing he can think of, calling out to her. It takes a couple of tries, but finally, it seems to get through to her, the fire dying quickly. She wavers on her feet, blood dripping out of her nose.

Thor is there before Steve can get to her, catching her before she falls. Thor moves her back to the bed, laying her down, Bruce moving to her side. Blood was quickly covering her face, dripping out of her nose and down her cheeks like tears. Her hands were also bleeding, her fingers split open and blistered. She had torn her stitches as well, the wound on her side starting to bleed again. Her body was still hot to the touch, her heart rate through the roof. Bruce goes to work, trying to lower her body temperature and stop the bleeding at the same time while Tony and Steve put out the remaining fire.

"What the hell happened?" Clint asks, coming into the room carrying his bow. Nat was right behind him, gun in hand. They had heard the alarms and had gotten to the med bay as quickly as they could, but it seemed like it was over before they even got into the elevator.

"HYDRA," Steve says, looking down at the burnt remains of the agent who had slipped into the tower.

"How did he make it through Stark's security?" Nat asks.

Tony feels his stomach twist angrily and guiltily. "He must have buried that part of him real deep. I'll have JARVIS do another sweep on everyone who has access to the tower." He takes his leave, shooting a passing glance at Rory before heading back to his lab.

"He's going to beat himself up about this for a while," Nat says, watching him go.

"It's not his fault. I was the one who left her alone." Steve says.

"We can't take that risk anymore. At least until we can get the remains of HYDRA taken care of." Thor says, stepping over to them.

"One of us should stay with her at all times. We can take turns, rotate shifts. Make sure nothing like this happens again." Clint says.

"I'll stay with her first," Thor says. "It appears Stark's hypothesis was correct."

The other three nod in understanding.

"I'll take a look at the security footage, see if I can't figure out why this happened," Nat says.

"Clint and I will take care of the body. Get it over to Hill. See if there's any way we can figure out who he was." Steve says.

The four of them go their separate ways, Thor moving back over to the bed where Bruce was working to stabilize Rory while Clint and Steve took proper measures to move the body. They had all thought she would be safe with them, but they were wrong. Thor wasn't sure about a lot of things that had happened recently, but he was sure he wouldn't ever let anything like that happen again. Not to her.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the attack. Rory meets Clint finally.

Rory wakes up slowly, her entire body feeling as if she had been hit by a truck and sent flying under a train. She still feels hot, pain rippling through her nerves. She can't take it, a whimper leaving her mouth as she attempts to push some of the pain aside. Someone is there with her, speaking gently to her. Battle rough hands brush the hair from her face, pressing something cold to her forehead. Something wet hits her lips and she welcomes it, gulping down the water. It stings as it goes down, making her feel like she's going to puke again. She holds it in, letting her eyes drift closed again, darkness taking her.

* * *

She wakes up again, this time in less pain than before. It's light outside this time, the sun burning her eyes for a moment. She blinks away the pain, her eyes adjusting to the light. There's a strange sound coming from beside her and she turns her head, a slow process before her eyes come to rest on someone she's never seen before. He was currently reclining back in a chair, blowing up a blue glove like a balloon.

He lets it go as soon as he sees her watching, the glove flying over her bed before hitting the floor with a smack. "You're awake!" He grins, sitting up straight, leaning on the edge of the bed. "We haven't met yet. I'm Clint."

She stares at him for a moment before looking up at the ceiling. Memories of what had happened flash through her mind. She had killed a man. He had been with HYDRA, there to kill her but she had killed him instead. It had felt so easy, so satisfying to watch him burn. The power she had felt, letting her anger wash through her like that, was unlike anything she had ever experienced. The part that scared her, was that she liked it.

Something is touching her face, bringing her back from her thoughts. She recognizes the familiar rubbery texture of latex gloves. Clint's thumb is brushing along her cheek, wiping the tears away. She hadn't even noticed she had started crying. She stares at him, looking into his concerned green eyes. She felt sick to her stomach, but she knew there was nothing in there to puke up.

"Breathe." He says to her, taking a few deep breaths himself to help her. She copies his pattern, sniffling as her breathing calms down.

"I killed him." She whispers, her hands attempting to curl into fists but she finds they're wrapped in gauze. She holds them up, looking at them. They tremble as she holds them in the air, tears threatening to fall again.

"You did what you had to do." Clint lowers her hands with one of his own glove covered ones. "You were just protecting yourself."

"But I shouldn't have killed him."

"It's okay." Clint squeezes her arm gently. "No one here is going to blame you for it. We've all taken a stab at someone from our pasts when we came across them again."

They lapse into silence for a while, Rory taking the time to calm herself down again. How easy it had been for her. She never wanted to feel that way again.

She looks down at Clint's gloved hands, reaching out to touch the latex. "What are those for?"

Clint looks down at his hands. "Precautionary. In case I needed to touch you. We all agreed it would be best to not overwhelm you. You've had a tough past few days."

Rory shrugs. "Might as well get it over with now." She holds out an arm to him since her hands were currently wrapped in gauze. "Can't feel any worse than I already do."

Clint hesitates before slipping the gloves off, touching her arm. Electricity flows through both of them, feeling as if some gap has suddenly been filled. Like two pieces of rope that had been dangling finally tied together. Rory feels like she might pass out again, closing her eyes and breathing deeply to work through the overwhelming feelings. She almost regrets her decision, but at least this way, it was done, and as far as she knew there wouldn't be anyone else. She finally had all of her mates, at least in spirit. There was still one missing from her life, arguably the most important to her.

"Are you hungry?" Clint asks after she opens her eyes again.

Rory shakes her head. "Not really." Her stomach was churning and she wasn't sure if it was from the pain or what she had experienced.

Clint leans against the bed. "Bruce will want to look you over, but you should definitely eat something. You've been out for almost a day and you need to put something in your stomach."

Rory stares down at her gauze wrapped hands. She definitely didn't feel like eating but he was probably right. A day wasn't the longest she'd passed out for after using her powers but it was still an extensive time. She nods in agreement, chewing on her lip.

"JARVIS, let Bruce know Rory is awake."

" _Right away, Mr. Barton."_

Rory jumps at the computerized voice, looking around. Clint chuckles, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, that's just JARVIS. He kind of runs everything. Monitors the tower, runs the security programs, all of Stark's tech, he's been monitoring you as well and your…" He gestures with his hand. "Medical stuff. He's also Stark's AI and kind of like his butler."

Rory nods, relaxing back in bed. "HYDRA never had anything like that. They were advanced, but in some ways, they weren't." She shakes her head. "This is going to take a long time to get used to."

Clint nods. "That's understandable. I know Tony, Steve and Nat have lists of stuff they want to talk to you about, but Bruce is holding them back for now. Making sure you're okay before they start rambling off things that could get overwhelming fast, knowing them. Well, at least Steve and Tony. Nat knows what it's like, being in this position. Hell, we all do in a way. We're trying our best, but we're excited too, finally having you here with us."

Rory nods, staring up at the ceiling. She doesn't know what to say, but thankfully it's not very long before Bruce comes into the room again. He looks her over, checking on her stitches. He talks to her as he does so, Clint leaving to get her something to eat. Bruce tells her that she tore her stitches and the wound partially opened back up but thankfully not enough. It had taken her a while to cool back down, and her hands had been bleeding. He checks those over too, her fingers raw and blistered and scabbed. He lets them breathe for a bit, starting another morphine drip. He stays with her until Nat comes in, carrying a steaming bowl. Bruce sets the table up, Nat setting it in front of Rory. It's some kind of soup, the smell of it making her stomach growl.

Bruce leaves them once everything is settled, letting Nat know she'll probably have to feed Rory since her hands were still torn up. It would take a couple of days for the scabs to scar over and the blisters to go down, but they wouldn't ever fully heal. Not unless she could go a significant amount of time without using her abilities. Then maybe for once, she'd be able to look at her hands and see somewhat normal hands again.

"Where's Clint?" Rory asks after Nat sits down next to her bed.

"Eating his own lunch. It was almost time for us to switch places anyways so I offered to bring you your lunch."

Rory frowns. "Switch places?"

Nat smiles at her. "We agreed it was best to not leave you alone for a while, after what happened. If he got in, we don't know how many there could be in the tower, much less if they figured out a way around Tony's security measures." Rory must be giving her a panicked look because Nat puts her hand on her arm gently. "Don't worry. No one can step foot on this floor without Tony knowing about it. He's also going through all of the tower's staff again and running tighter background checks to look for any sign of potential HYDRA affiliation. And you won't be alone. They'll have to go through one of us to get to you."

Rory looks down at the bowl of soup. "That's what worries me."

Nat picks up the spoon, offering her a taste of the soup. It's salty but light, bringing back memories from when she was a child. HYDRA hadn't been big on soup, giving her mostly sandwiches and plates of food that looked like they had seen better days. She's not sure what she had ingested in her six years with them, but she had eaten when they had given her food since she never knew when she was going to be fed again.

The memories turn her stomach, and if it wasn't for Nat feeding her, she probably wouldn't have finished the soup. Nat doesn't speak to her while she eats, but for the first time, she wishes she had something to distract her. She doesn't want to think about HYDRA anymore, but it seems she can't help it. It seems HYDRA will always be there, always looming in the background, threatening to swallow her whole again.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rory gets to see the tower and finds out what happened to her family.

Rory spends the next few days avoiding the people who were intent on being close to her. She spends most of the time sleeping, or at least feigning sleep. Her soulmates still took their turns spending time with her, entertaining themselves in their own ways while she focused more on avoiding any conversation with them. Clint had said they didn't blame her for what happened, but she feels like they can't all agree with what he said. She had killed a man, and she liked how powerful it made her feel. Of course, they didn't know about the latter part, and she would make sure they never did.

Rory is woken rather rudely the next morning when both Tony and Bruce barge in. Well, Tony did most of the barging.

"Wake up sunshine, we're breaking you out of here," Tony says, tossing something onto her bed.

She sits up, seeing a pile of clothes before she looks up at Tony. "Huh?"

Bruce starts disconnecting the wires from her. "What he means is, you're progressing very quickly in the healing process and we think it would be good for you to get up and start moving around a little bit more."

"Plus a change of scenery would probably be nice too." Tony shrugs. "So come on. Get changed and I'll take you on an official tour."

Bruce finishes disconnecting Rory from the equipment. "If it's too much or you feel woozy, just let JARVIS know and I'll come and save you."

Rory feels a smile pull at her lips for the first time in a long time. "Thanks."

Rory takes the clothes to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She had gotten used to doing it after her soulmates had started sticking by her side like shadows. It was the only privacy she was allotted and she found herself missing the solitude now that there were people around her constantly. They hovered more than HYDRA had.

Rory changes into the clothes, making the mistake of looking at her reflection. She had avoided it since her arrival, but she can't help but stare at the person in the mirror. Dull green eyes stare back at her, ringed by deep circles despite the time she had spent sleeping lately. She was pale, paler than she remembered being as a kid. Before HYDRA. Her hair had gotten longer since the first escape from HYDRA. When they had taken her a second time, they hadn't worried about the way she looked. She was simply there to bait Bucky back. HYDRA had always kept her hair short since it was easier to manage that way. But now it was down below her shoulders. Her skin is marred with scars from HYDRA and their many tests and disciplines. The t-shirt she had been given is too big, probably one of Tony's judging by the size and the logo on the front. The sweatpants must have been Nat's since they fit her better, but were still slightly too big.

Rory leaves the bathroom, Tony lounging against the side of her bed. She tugs at the t-shirt nervously as he takes her in before standing, offering her a hand.

"Come on. Let's get this tour started."

The tower is bigger than Rory had thought, granted she had only seen a small part of it. Tony shows her everything, doing all the talking as he takes her past the labs, showing her where everyone stays in their own apartments, the kitchens, the common areas. It is rather overwhelming to her to see something so...normal after so long with HYDRA and its bare minimum warehouses.

The real shock comes when Tony shows her, her own apartment. Rory has to push aside the urge to be sick as Tony takes her through the small apartment. It was sparsely decorated, filled with just the essentials and painted in neutral colors. The bedroom was the same, but it contained a bed bigger than Rory had seen in a long time.

"It's all yours to do with it what you want. At least, decorating wise. I know Nat will want to do some shopping soon as well, just to get you some clothes of your own."

Rory touches the comforter on the bed, the fabric softer than anything she'd touched in a long time. "Purple. That was my favorite color."

Tony shifts behind her. "We can work with purple."

Rory turns back to face him, trying not to seem small in the large space. "It's...it's a lot."

Tony nods. "I get it. You don't have to stay here right now if you don't want to. You can stay wherever you feel the most comfortable. No one will think you're weird if you sleep in a cupboard in the kitchen. Clint does it all the time. Scared me half to death looking for a coffee cup one time."

Rory nods, shifting her feet on the plush carpet, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Now that we're done here, there were some things we wanted to talk to you about now that you're recovering."

Rory follows Tony out to her living room, sitting on the couch with him. It wasn't lumpy or smelly like the last couch she sat on. It was like sitting on a cloud that wanted to swallow her whole. It scared her a little.

Tony pulls out a tablet, pressing some things on the screen as he speaks to her. "We did some digging after you showed up, trying to figure out as much as we could about you, not just from HYDRA but from before as well." Rory pulls her knees up to her chest, nodding. "Now, seeing as you'll be 17 next week, we have a couple of options. A, we could go through the process of getting you legally emancipated or B, one of us could go through the process of adopting you. Of course, you'll probably be 18 before either one of those gets processed so it's just a matter of which one you'd be most comfortable with."

Rory stares at him for a moment. "What about my parents?"

Tony's shoulders tense, and now he's the one nervously chewing on his lip. The action has Rory's stomach twisting painfully. "You don't...they...they're gone, Rory."

Rory had been expecting him to say that. Since the moment she asked the question she knew that's what he was going to say. Despite that, she still feels the tears welling up despite her efforts not to cry. "How?"

"They were found dead after your teacher reported you absent from her class for a few days. An officer went to check on the house and they concluded it was a murder/kidnapping. HYDRA probably-"

"They never told me." Rory keeps her eyes on the wall in front of her. "They didn't...they let me think…" Her shoulders shake as she tries to hold down a sob, biting her lip until she tastes blood, trying to keep it all down. Tony reaches out towards her but she shies away from his touch. "I...I need to be alone right now."

He nods, setting the tablet on the table. "I understand. Just, let JARVIS know if you need anything." He gets up, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Rory hasn't moved when Steve brings her dinner. Her uneaten lunch is sitting on the table still, along with the tablet. Steve feels his heart clench as he looks at her. He had thought she had looked broken when he first met her, but now she just looked...empty. Tony had told them all when he'd come down to the gym fighting tears himself. They all understood in their own ways, but all of them had felt the collective pain of knowing someone so young had lost everything they had.

"I brought you dinner," Steve says, putting the plate of spaghetti on the table. "Bucky's Ma taught me how to make it." At the mention of Bucky, her eyes finally move, looking from the plate up to his face. "I also brought you something I wanted you to have." He hands her the picture frame. "It was taken during the war. After I came out of the ice three years ago, Bucky's sister was still alive. She had all of our stuff from before the war and during it. Some of it went to the museum but some of it I kept for myself."

"Steve…" Her voice cracks as she says his name, her fingers tracing over the photo. "I can't…"

"I want you to have it. It's a piece of him. I know he's not that man anymore but...I'm going to find him."

Rory nods, hastily wiping a tear from her cheek. "Thank you."

Steve smiles. "You're welcome. Eat up. There's plenty if you want more. Just let JARVIS know."

Rory nods, setting the picture down before picking up the plate of spaghetti.

* * *

Rory doesn't know what to do with herself. She had finished her dinner and Steve had picked up the plates of food before she was alone again. There was a TV on the wall but she was scared to turn it on. Tony had shown her the food in the kitchen to snack on but she didn't feel hungry. There were a few books on the mostly empty shelf but she didn't feel like reading. There was no one dictating what she did with her time anymore. No one keeping her to a strict schedule. She felt antsy, nervous, unsure. That makes her almost glad when Nat shows up to check on her.

"How are you doing, sweetie?" She asks, sitting on the couch next to Rory.

Rory chews her lip. "I...I don't know what to do. I don't...there's no…"

"Structure. Routine." Nat smiles at her. "I get it. It's an adjustment. Going from every moment of your life being dictated to having the freedom to make your own decisions is tough. You're scared you'll make the wrong one." Rory nods in agreement. "It's okay. You'll get used to it. If it helps, we can set up a routine with JARVIS. He can wake you up at a certain time every day, remind you to do something at certain times. We can make this work for you."

Rory nods. "Okay. I-I'd like that."

Nat smiles. "Good. We'll do that tomorrow. For now, it's late and you've had a long day. Why don't you go ahead and call it a night?"

Rory nods again. "Okay."

Nat takes her leave, leaving Rory alone again. The bathroom in her room is bigger than the room she'd stayed in at the HYDRA compound and it's fully stocked with things for her. She's unsure of what to do for a few moments, having to pause to take it all in. It certainly was going to be an adjustment for her, having all this freedom and space. It felt wrong, like any moment someone was going to walk through the door and punish her for trying to do something without being told to do it.

Her next problem is the bed.

It's soft and pillowy and she hates it. She's not sure how long she spends tossing and turning and trying to get comfortable. It was like laying on a pile of clouds and she didn't like it. She also didn't like how big the room was. It was a lot of empty space and a lot of shadows. She kept expecting someone to throw open the door and march in and drag her out of bed. Panic starts to rise from her toes to her chest as memories flood her. She can hear the heavy boots coming down the hallway, the clang of the door as it unlocks. The smell of his aftershave as he presses in close to her.

Rory jumps out of bed, fighting the urge to be sick as she crawls under the frame. It was just big enough to slide under but she doesn't care, pressing her face into the carpet as she tries to calm her breathing. She's safe, she's in the tower with the Avengers. It isn't concrete, it's carpet against her skin. There's no hand reaching under the bed to grab her ankle and tug her out and reprimand her for trying to hide where there's nowhere to hide. Nowhere to be safe.


	10. Author's Note

So, this story has been more popular than I thought it would ever get to be and so I thought I would update everyone on what's going on as far as this story, as well as my other unfinished Marvel works go. I didn't mean to leave things hanging this long, but things have kind of been iffy for a while and I wanted to make sure before I posed this. 

Basically, to put it simply, my Marvel muse is dead. 

It's a very long story and it's not exactly something I want to air out in public. If you're just dying to know, you can DM me and I'll give you a short version of my reasons why. 

I just can't bring myself to write about Marvel anymore. My interest in Marvel has been slipping for a while. Even to the point where the last Marvel movie I saw was Black Panther and I haven't watched any since then. There were some events that happened this year that kind of pushed me out of the fandom completely and just kind of tied the noose so to speak. 

There's no promise it will remain dead forever. I may find my way back, or I may not. I can't promise anything. These past few months have taken a lot out of me between switching schools, dealing with COVID, being isolated and other things going on, I just lost the drive to even write anything. That being said, I'm taking the summer off as far as classes go to give myself a bit of a break. I started a new job that takes up some of my day but I'm hoping the break between terms will let me refill my writing juices and actually start posting stuff again. I'm planning to focus on other interests for the foreseeable future so things as far as the fandoms I've been writing for are going to change. 

Thank you all for understanding and I'm sorry if this comes as a disappointment but I figured it was better than just leaving everyone in limbo for possibly forever.


	11. Author's Note 2

I've been thinking about this story a lot over the past couple days. I can't say I have any inspiration for it right now, but it's been like this itch that I can't quite scratch that hasn't left me for the past couple months. I'm still dealing with a lot, working through a lot. Perhaps it's boredom from being forced into quarantine or perhaps I'm just so exhausted from work and school that I'm looking for any sort of creative reprieve to take my mind off of the things I should be doing. I don't know if there's any interest in this story anymore or what the fandom even looks like right now I've been so disconnected from it this year, especially over the second half of this year. I haven't watched a Marvel movie since March, maybe before that. I still can't bring myself to even look at pictures right now without getting a sick feeling in my stomach. Maybe it's just my nagging hatred of leaving things unfinished. I have no memory of where I was going with this story, any of the ideas I had for it or what direction I was taking it. If I go back to writing it, it's probably going to be different. I read through the whole thing last night and it's a good story and i hate seeing it go to waste. So I'm trying, I guess that's what I want to say. I'm trying and if I update a Marvel story before I leave, it will probably be this one. 


End file.
